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Bungle could have cost Games start

Paul Mulvey and Steve Jancetic

A shroud of secrecy has descended over two Australian athletes who were entered in the wrong Commonwealth Games events and could have missed the starting line.

Australia's Games chief has not even told the pair who on Monday were among 48 athletes from eight countries granted special dispensation by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to compete despite the administrative oversights.

"One athlete was entered in the wrong event and the other was not entered for an additional event they should have been in," Australian Commonwealth Games Association Chief (ACGA) executive Perry Crosswhite told AAP on Tuesday.

Crosswhite would not reveal the identity of the athletes or their sport.

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"We're not giving the names because it has nothing to do with the athletes ... and we're not saying the events because it doesn't make any difference," he said.

Crosswhite said the athletes may not even know they were caught up in the bungle, which he said was one of the reasons their identity would remain hidden.

The deadline for entries was June 11, but "due to a number of oversights by their own administrators the athletes were not entered and faced missing their events," a statement from the CGF read.

But Crosswhite played down fears they would have missed out.

"It was never an issue. They were always going to be in. We just had to go through a process that didn't come out until yesterday," he said.

"Absolutely there was a mistake. The ACGA made an entering mistake and we admitted it straight away and we made sure it was corrected."

Australia's team chief Steve Moneghetti was in the dark and doesn't know who the athletes are.

"I was made aware of that situation but it was dealt with. I left that to the ACGA, they went through the process and it's been a good outcome," he said.

The CGF will not release any details of the athletes or the circumstances.

An Australian team spokesman said, while he didn't know who the athletes were either, they were simply entered in the wrong event.

"Our guys were on the system but they weren't in the right events," the spokesman said.

"In one sport it might have been the singles when it should have been the doubles, or whatever, that's all I know."

Joining Australia in benefiting from the reprieve two days out from the Games were Kenya, Jamaica, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Tanzania, Ghana, and the Bahamas.

The CGF left no doubt as to where the blame lay.

"The CGF Executive Board took the view that wherever possible athletes should not suffer because of the failings of their administrators," CGF President HRH Prince Imran said in a statement.